Toy-Maker's Apprentice

IN JUST ONE year, Jack Knob has gone from being a young man beginning to realize his dreams to one whose desperate thoughts are aimed at helping his struggling family. Max Prentice, who has had his eye on Jack for sometime, is a successful toy-maker and the owner of a toy store in Chicago. Yet, when Jack's desperate thoughts begin to turn into action, Max intervenes, shows Jack the error in his thinking, and hires Jack to be his apprentice. Indeed, all is going well, until illness confines Max to bed and results in his wife Mildred running the store. With little remorse, her first act is to fire Jack. To learn what happens to Jack, Mildred, and even Max, turn the knob and enter the shop.

Chicagoan James R. Poyner has spent much of his work life as an editorial assistant/proofreader. Through that venerable trade he has developed an excellent, self-critical inner ear that has much to do with his fluid prose. Now that his storytelling has finally caught up to his skill as a writer - come of age, so to speak - any reader of any age is certain to find Toy-Maker's Apprentice a wonderful treasure, a true keepsake. Otherwise, James R. Poyner is also the author of Scorpion, another story suitable for readers of all ages.